I am presently reading a book (actually this one of the 4 books I am presently reading) called Game Theory at Work by James Miller. I started down this course of thinking about game theory because of reading a post at Whit's blog (whitkeuer.blogspot.com) about Nash's game theory applying to considering what others are doing in order to plan what you do and how if carried out through a Christian context the effect be very beneficial to each person involved.
What strikes me most about the concept of Game Theory is that has nothing to do with considering the other person through Christian love, but instead it approaches each interaction as a competition and assumes the worse about the other person. James Miller puts it like this, "In the world of game theory there exists no mercy or compassion, only self-interest. Most people care solely about themselves and everyone knows and accepts this."
That's harsh. Unfortunately, it's true. We live in a world where people are basically just selfish. The only interest is self-interest. Of course as Christians we strive to not live that way. Jesus told us to love one another and to consider our enemy. Remember that it was Cain the murderer who claimed that he was not his brothers keeper. My interpretation is that the opposite of his attitude should be our attitude in Christ. This means that we are our brothers keeper.
Having said that though, can we completely discount game theory in our interactions with other people? I think each one us would have to examine our conscience on this. Here is what has intrigued me. Again, Miller states, "Your employer would never give you a raise because it 'would be a nice thing to do.'" Here is my question: do donors give because it is a nice thing to do? I'm not completely sure they do. Even in Paul's day, Paul emphasizes to the Philippians that he is not seeking something from them but something for them, fruit for their account in heaven.
This is not meant in any way to disparage those who give to missions. I think it actually relates back to my last post. People don't give because it is a "nice thing to do." Stewards give because it is their task before the Lord and we should respect that. We have an obligation to give a payout to our donors. What is that payout? It is results. They are paying us to do what they cannot. We must perform. We must see churches planted where there were none.
Consider if you are a donor and there are two missionaries. By giving to missionary 1 the donor receives maximum results that they can see through accountability measures. On the other hand, giving to missionary 2 they receive regular updates about all the activity the missionary is doing but no real results. As a Steward before the Lord, which missionary would be serve the "self-interest" of the donor?
So what's my point. Missionaries, show results, not activities. Donors, evaluate where your gift is going, expect accountability.
